Chapter 187 Let it

Chapter 187 Let it
It’s nearly three in the morning by the time we pull out of Kaden’s street. He took only twenty minutes to toss a few things into a bag, and now he's sitting beside me, the low rumble of the engine filling the silence as I drive us toward my penthouse.
"Is everything okay?" He asks suddenly, breaking the quiet.
I turn my head briefly, arching an eyebrow. "What?"
"You just seem like you're thinking about something," he says, his eyes scanning my profile in the glow of the dashboard lights.
I reach across the center console, wrapping my hand around his and giving it a gentle squeeze. "Just work...sorry."
He lifts my hand to his lips, pressing a soft, lingering kiss against my knuckles. I glance back over at him, an involuntary smile touching my lips before I return my focus to the road ahead.
He looks undeniably worn down around the edges, but the exhaustion only makes him look more delicate, more vulnerable. It ignites a quiet, dark fire in my chest. I want him. I want to strip him bare and see exactly how far I can push him tonight before he completely surrenders.
"I can't wait to finally sleep next to you," he murmurs, his voice dropping into a softly excited register. "I've been really looking forward to it."
I glance at him again. He’s staring out the windshield, a peaceful smile hovering on his lips. A sudden, sharp pang of guilt twists deep in my gut. Over the past few weeks, I’ve developed this frantic need to give Kaden absolutely everything within my reach...yet this simple thing he actually wants from me, I withhold. Hiding behind my fear, paralyzed by the psychological price I’m terrified I’ll have to pay if I let down my guard completely.
I stay mostly quiet for the rest of the drive, content to let his voice wash over me. Kaden rambles softly about the travel research he’s been doing, mapping out the places he wants to see in Tokyo. He talks about how we should avoid the hyper-touristy hubs to beat the crowds, and how jealous Josie was when he told her where we were going, considering she'd been planning her own trip there for ages.
For a split second, I’m tempted to suggest he invite her along. But I shut the thought down immediately. Her presence would split his attention, and I'm far too selfish to share him with anyone right now.
When I pull into the underground garage, Kaden reaches for the passenger door handle.
"Wait," I tell him softly.
I step out, walk around the front of the car, and open his door for him. As he steps out, I reach into the backseat to grab his bag. He reaches out to take it from me, but I bypass the strap entirely, taking his hand instead.
I release his fingers just long enough to punch the security code into the private elevator key pad, then immediately wrap my fingers back around his. Kaden shifts his weight, stepping directly into my personal space. His eyes scan my face before dropping down my arm. "Does your arm hurt?"
I recall the painkiller I took in the car and give a smooth shake of my head. "It was starting to earlier, but it’s fine now."
"I looked up a few massage techniques," he says, looking up at me through his lashes with a quiet, brilliant smile. "Will you let me practice on you?"
A soft scoff slips past my lips, my eyes narrowing in affectionate amusement. "You know you never need an excuse to get your hands on me."
He lets go of my hand only to loop both of his arms around my neck, pulling himself flush against my chest. I reach down to wrap my arm around his waist, my palm drifting toward his hip, when my fingers brush against something thick and folded in his back pocket.
I slide it out. A wad of cash.
Kaden glances down at it, a triumphant smirk spreading across his face as he takes it back from me. "That's my tip money." He reaches into the front pockets of his jeans, pulling out one more tightly folded stack of bills. "From tonight alone."
He tucks the cash into his jacket pocket, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "I dialed the charm up a notch tonight. The customers were practically begging me to take their cash."
My jaw tightens. A vivid, unwelcome image of Kaden leaning over the bar, flashing that devastating smile at lingering strangers, flashes through my head. I know flirting is part of the job, but I actively choose not to think about it because it makes my blood run dangerously hot. I detest the idea of other people getting even a fraction of his radiance.
Kaden catches the sudden, dark shift in my expression and lets out a soft chuckle. "Relax. I'll treat you to something nice."
"With your flirting money?"
"It's an art form," he counters, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "Not everyone has the gift. You certainly don't."
The elevator doors chime and slide open just as I’m about to argue. We step into the private entryway of the penthouse.
"I don't need to flirt," I murmur against his ear. "I prefer direct action."
I make my way to the bedroom, Kaden by my side. Then I set his duffel down on the leather bench at the foot of my bed, placing my palm against his lower back and guiding him forward toward the floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the city skyline.
Kaden's steps slow as we draw closer. The memory of the last time we stood here clearly registers. The exact conversation we had, and the explicit intentions I had outlined regarding this view. He realizes I hadn't been joking.
I step up directly behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling his back tight against my chest. I rest my chin on his shoulder, following his gaze out into the glittering sky, where the massive, illuminated billboards across the square light up the dark.
Right in the center, towering over the avenue, is Kaden's face. Striking, flawless, and commanding the entire skyline.
I press a slow kiss to the shell of his ear. "Consider this my version of flirting."
My eyes fixate on one specific digital billboard towering over the avenue, a breathtaking video loop of Kaden behind the wheel of a matte-black sports car, before the scene seamlessly cuts to him in the elevator, then it cuts again to him standing on the deck of a yacht at sunrise, holding a crystal glass of whiskey.
I had explicitly instructed the marketing team to edit Erica out of this specific run. This version was made exclusively for my eyes. And now, for his.
Kaden hasn't said a word. He just stands there, pinned against my chest, his eyes wide as he stares out at his own image projected across the city.
"They started playing this evening," I murmur into his ear, my voice deep and low. "By this time tomorrow, you’ll be on display across every major skyline in the country. And by the end of the week, half of Europe and Asia will be staring at you, too."
He finally turns his head to look back at me. A stunned, breathless silence hangs on his face. As if he can’t quite reconcile the man glowing on those screens with himself.
I lift my hand, trailing the back of my knuckles softly along the warm curve of his cheekbone.
"If you keep doing stuff like this," he says, his voice barely a whisper, "it's going to get to my head."
A smile touches my lips. I lean down, pressing a lingering kiss to his mouth. "Let it."
Kaden holds my stare, and I watch the initial shock fade, replaced by a sudden, fierce spark that ignites deep within his eyes. It drowns out the doubt, the exhaustion and the rest of the world entirely. It feels like we're the only two people awake, the only two people alive.
Without warning, he presses his lips back to mine with a sudden, desperate intensity.
His fingers move, making quick work of shoving the heavy fabric of my suit jacket off my shoulders, letting it pool onto the floor behind us. Before I can even draw a breath, his hands slide up to my collar, yank my loosened tie completely free, and cast it aside, his lips never once breaking contact with mine.